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Cold-call victim Lee Beaumont has taken revenge on his telephone tormentors by turning his home number into an 0871 premium rate line – and has so far made more than £300 from the calls he has received.

Beaumont, 25, was getting fed up about the number of nuisance calls he was receiving, particularly those offering to help him claim for mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI), so he started looking at ways to stem the tide. Then he realised there was money to be made.

In November 2011 the self-employed designer paid £10 plus VAT to set up his personal 0871 number, which sits on top of the normal Leeds 0113 number used by his friends and family.

He bought an 0844 and an 0871 number but said he used the latter “because it’s more revenue for me”.